A former Coventry detective who can't work and can't retire is taking legal action against West Midlands police.

A former Coventry detective who can't work and can't retire is taking legal action against West Midlands police.

Pat McKeown, aged 44, has been left in limbo after being told he will never work as a police officer again.

He has been off ill for 18 months and the Home Office ruled last October that he was permanently disabled with psychological problems and would not be able to return to work.

He wants to be pensioned off on medical grounds but has been unable to get West Midlands Police to agree to let him retire.

He is now considering taking legal action to end the dispute because his claim has reached a stalemate. He says he has heard nothing about his claim since winning the Home Office appeal last year and has now instructed a solicitor to seek a judicial review in the crown court. The aim of that is to try to force West Midlands Police to resolve the situation.

Mr McKeown, an officer for more than 25 years, worked on several high-profile Coventry cases in his 10 years as a detective constable before transferring to the drugs squad in

1993.

His wife Jill told the Evening Telegraph her husband's career had been ruined after allegations were made against several drugs squad officers in 1996, and - although Mr McKeown was later cleared of accusations against him - he had never been returned to detective duties and felt he had been made a scapegoat.

Mr McKeown was one of several officers caught up in an internal investigation called Operation Gunther launched in March 1996.

In July of that year, he was transferred from the drugs squad to uniformed duties in Birmingham, after 20 years working in Coventry.

Four disciplinary charges were brought against him, but three were dropped before his hearing.

In April 1998, Mr McKeown was called before the Chief Constable of South Wales Police at an independent disciplinary hearing, who decided there was no case for him to answer.

His wife said: "This cleared my husband's name but he felt he was still being treated as if he was guilty."

Mr McKeown, who before 1996 had taken no sick days off in 11 years, began to suffer from severe stress and was diagnosed with clinical depression. Between July 1996 and September 2000, the officer had 358 days off sick due to stress-related conditions.

Mr McKeown says that in September 2000, the force doctor advised him to go sick permanently and to claim a medical pension. Mr McKeown has not worked since, and remains on half-pay.

Victimised

He was asked to provide independent evidence that he was unable to return to work, and submitted reports from a psychologist and psychiatrist who had assessed him and agreed he would never be able to work for the police again.

This view is shared by Mr McKeown's own GP and an independent doctor who assessed him for incapacity benefits on behalf of the DSS.

But when the force's doctor ruled Mr McKeown's condition was not a permanent disability, a Home Office review was required to settle the matter.

A report prepared for the Home Office by Dr Marzanski, consultant psychiatrist at Walsgrave Hospital, states: "His symptoms have been attributed to the stress related to his work, specifically the investigation of the Drug Squad during the Gunther enquiry... He feels he has been treated unjustly, victimised and scape-goated. In my opinion, Mr McKeown is unlikely to recover if he remains a member of the police force."

Mrs McKeown - who also had to take 18 months off her civil servant's job with the strain of the early investigations - said: "Everything has revolved around this for the past four years. I want it resolved, and I want to know why they are behaving this way.

"They have made life hell: not just the effect it has had on Pat, but the knock-on effect on everybody else in the family."

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "The situation is under review but we are unable to discuss specific details of individual cases."